Hometown Hearts

“Lass, will you show me what to do?” Mrs. G. followed down the stairs.

“I may have my hands full with another greenhorn.” Why was she smiling? It was because of the adamant way Adam shook his head. His no-way-are-you-getting-me-on-a-horse manner made her chuckle. She winked at Mrs. G. “At least you won’t be the only first-timer. You may have to set a good example for the new doctor in town.”

“Cheyenne! Cheyenne!” Julianna bolted across the lawn, running full-out. “Guess what? Dusty and Princess are here. Frank trailered them over from the inn. We get to ride ’em!”

“You look happy.” The homeless and abused horses that the inn had taken on were thriving, thanks to cousin Sean and his fiancée Eloise’s care and the Stone girls’ pampering. Two of the horses had taken a shine to each of the girls. Seeing the way the golden mare lifted her head to always keep an eye on little Julianna spoke of a growing bond. She gave a light tug on one of Julianna’s ponytails. “Do you think you can show Mrs. G. how to mount up?”

“I sure can! It’s real easy.”

“Oh, is that a good idea?” the housekeeper asked, dimpled and merry. “She’s such a little girl.”

“With a big heart, and besides, she knows how to ride.” Cheyenne felt Adam’s gaze land on her like a touch to her chin. Her skin buzzed with a strange sensation. Maybe a bug had landed there. She rubbed her jawbone but nothing flew away.

“Don’t worry, Hattie. I’ll help, too,” Scotty called out from beside an older bay mare, the gentlest horse in the Granger inventory.

“All right, then.” Mrs. G. chuckled as Julianna pulled her away.

She ought to be joining her family, reining Wildflower down the trail, leading the way. She should be contributing to the family’s merry conversation and banter, but they seemed incredibly far away. Adam stood front and center, a few safe paces away from the few remaining horses. With the brush of the wind through his dark thick locks and the kiss of the sun on his bronzed complexion, he appeared intensely male and as polished as if he’d just walked off the covers of an outdoors magazine.

Not that she was attracted to that. Puzzling how she kept noticing him.

“Daddy, you haven’t got in your saddle yet.” Julianna’s button face lined with worry. “Don’t you know how?”

“Sure I do.” He straightened his spine, becoming more tall and powerful.

The fact that her heart kicked into an alarming arrhythmia was a complete coincidence. In fact, she wasn’t going to wait on a city boy like Adam Stone. She strolled over to Wildflower and rubbed her nose. Her old friend nickered softly, bumping her velvety nose into Cheyenne’s hand in an obvious request for more petting. Hard to refuse that. She leaned her forehead against Wildflower’s cheek and savored the sweet company her mare offered.

“I guess staying here and reading the book I have in the car is out of the question.” Adam’s deep baritone held a chord of emotion—a note of amusement and a softer one of resignation.

“Dad, that’s so not what you agreed to do.” Jenny’s dark gaze held a plea, one mirrored by her younger sister.

Not that the Stone family dynamics were any of her business, but she’d grown fond of the girls and she couldn’t seem to keep her attention away from the man. He was a good father. He might be thinking the stoic cast to his face came across as stern, but she could read the affection for his daughters beneath the surface and the look of love that said how much he wanted to please his girls.

Glimmers of admiration flared to life within her as she patted Wildflower’s neck. So, she was a softy for a man with a good heart. She liked him despite all the reasons she shouldn’t. He was remote, he was abrupt and she got the strong impression he didn’t like small-town life or country living. She couldn’t fault him for the look of trepidation he gave the waiting horse. He kept back, apparently mostly clueless what to do with the animal.

“Should I help him, Wildflower?” she asked her beloved mare. “What do you think?”

Wildflower nickered, her chocolate gaze approving of the man.

“All right, fine,” Cheyenne whispered. “But if it doesn’t work out, it’s your fault.”

Wildflower nodded, apparently good with that. Cheyenne patted the mare’s sun-warmed flank as she circled over to lend Adam a hand. He definitely looked as if he could use it. The poor man squinted at Scout, one of her brother’s horses, as if getting up on that gelding was about as appealing as catching a case of the bird flu.

“Look at Mrs. G.” She nodded toward the long line of horses and riders mounting up. “She’s never been on a horse before and she’s having a lot of fun.”

“I don’t do fun.”

“True, but you could fake it just this once.”

“I know what you’re trying to do.” He glanced over just in time to see the housekeeper give a hoot of surprise as the ranch hand gave her a boost into the saddle.

“Way to go, Mrs. G.!” Cheyenne cheered.

The older woman rose up in the air, swung her leg over the back of the horse and landed in the saddle with a surprised plop. “Oh, my! This is much higher than I thought. How do I keep from sliding right off?”

“First you need to wear this.” Scotty handed up Autumn’s extra Stetson, which he must have thought to bring from the barn.

Was that a sparkle of interest in Scotty’s gaze? The strapping ranch hand, also in his sixties, leaned in, lowered his voice and gave Mrs. G. a bit of advice.

“If she can do it, I’m sure you can.” Cheyenne sidled up to Adam. “It’s not difficult. Honestly.”

“For you, sure. You’re one of those animal people. You’ve probably ridden a horse since before you could walk.”

“True, but I’ll help you out. How about that?” The turn of the corners of her pretty rosebud mouth could have been meant to tease him, but the kindness glimmering quietly in her bright blue gaze did not.

“Daddy, please?” Julianna clasped her hands together, steepled as if in prayer. There had been so much he hadn’t been able to give her over the past few years—her mother’s return to their family, her mother’s full-time interest and a way to make her pain ease. But this he could do. His daughter wanted him to go on a horse ride with her. How could he say no?

Remembering his single, very bad experience with a horse when he was a boy, how could he say yes?

“Dad saddled up Scout for you. Scout is a real gentleman.” Cheyenne probably thought she was reassuring him as she led the way toward the horses, her light auburn hair spilling over her shoulder. “Don’t worry. It will be a piece of cake.”

Sure, like last time. He tried to erase the images rising into his mind like a DVD player in slow motion. The pony baring his teeth and snapping as he tried to mount. The nick of teeth stinging his upper arm. Squaring his shoulders, he took one step forward toward the few horses still tied to the rail. Most folks had mounted up and the big crowd of Grangers were milling around, saddles creaking, steeled hooves striking the ground, all eyes on him.

He probably looked like a coward, or at the very least a disagreeable man who didn’t know how to have fun. He felt the shadows within him. Fun wasn’t something he’d been inclined to have since the divorce, when life had become incredibly serious.

“Dad, this will be so much fun. You’ll see.” Jenny, more child than teenager at the moment, loped ahead of him with deerlike grace. “You can ride with me.”

“Uh-huh, he’s gonna ride with me!” Julianna argued cheerily from atop her little gold mare.

“The trail is wide enough that he can ride with both of you.” Cheyenne cheerfully untied reins from the fence board. A cow rambled up to investigate, a daisy stuck in the tuft of hair between her ears, something his girls must have done. “I wish you could come along, too, Buttercup, but you’ll have to stay here.”

The bovine had a similar pleading gaze as Julianna, wide eyes and hopes impossible to disappoint.

“I’m sorry, girlfriend.” Cheyenne stroked the cow’s wide nose before turning to him. “Are you ready to saddle up?”

He was more inclined to take off at a dead run, but cowardice had never been a flaw of his. If only so many gazes weren’t tracking his progress as he strode up to the horse, the menace on four legs. At least, that was his memory of being on horseback.

It will be better this time. That was the only thought that kept the fear at bay. Lord, I hope this isn’t a disaster, he added in prayer, because he would need all the help he could get.

The big behemoth studied him with friendly cocoa eyes. The horse’s nostrils rounded as he breathed in and out in a low-throated sound that could have been a growl.

Man up, he told himself but he couldn’t stop the DVD player part of his brain. The memory froze in this exact spot when he’d been four at his own birthday party. His heart had been pounding then, too, from excitement, not an impending sense of doom. But instead of the grizzled old man holding the reins, Cheyenne posed beside him, awash with sunshine and beauty, looking like everything good in the world.

“Does he bite?” It didn’t hurt to ask.

“I’ve never known him to, but for you he might make an exception.” She must think she was being funny.

He couldn’t bring himself to tell her the truth. He swallowed hard and stepped up to the saddle. He had to reach up to the saddle horn, but not too far. That was one advantage of being tall. He feared the disadvantage might be the old adage, the taller they are, the harder they fall.